1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for reproducing a data stream having multiple paths recorded on a high-density recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
The standardization of new high-density read only and rewritable optical disks capable of recording large amounts of high-quality video and audio data has been progressing rapidly and new optical disk related products are expected to be commercially available on the market in the near future. The Blu-ray Disc Rewritable (called ‘BD-RE’ in general) is one example of these new optical disks.
A BD-RE can store a multi-path data stream, e.g., a data stream having multiple stories, multiple parental levels, or multiple angles. Therefore, a disk recording/reproducing apparatus for a BD-RE has to make seamless change from a current path to another path during reproduction of a multi-path stream on a BD-RE when a user requests path change.
By the way, the standardization for a high-density read-only optical disk such as a Blu-ray ROM disk (called ‘BD-ROM’) is still under way. A BD-ROM can be also manufactured such that it includes a multi-path data stream.
Therefore, an effective method for enabling a seamless path change during reproduction of a multi-path data stream recorded on such a high-density optical disk is strongly demanded.